Even one player says he suspects certain players, 'Yeah, of course'

Everyone’s a suspect because of statistics that look less like the game’s history and more like a video game with the Game Genie attached. Shredded bodies, massive home-run totals and revelations of secret positive tests turned America’s pastime into a laboratory experiment.

Performance-enhancing drugs ran rampant in the game for years—even decades—and with rings like Biogenesis, the doubt in legitimate numbers keeps growing. Now, any offensive spike from a relative unknown or sustained output from one of the game’s senior citizens is met with suspicion from fans, media, even peers.

“You wanna know if I suspect certain guys?” one current player told Sporting News on the condition of anonymity. “Yeah, of course. It’s been like that for years, though. Nothing new. It’s not fair, but it’s the way the game is now. You see a guy break out big or an older player have a career year, and you think twice.”

He declined to name a player he might suspect of using PEDs, but fans have not been afraid to voice their doubt. Baltimore Orioles power bat Chris Davis has 31 home runs this season, and just because casual baseball fans are now recognizing his name, they absorb his numbers with a gulp of skepticism. His legitimacy has been a topic on sports talk radio all season. On Sunday, a day after Davis belted two home runs, a fan asked him on Twitter, “Are you on steroids?” Davis responded, “No.”

On the other coast, Yasiel Puig has grown to legendary proportions as he wallops baseballs at record one-month rates for the Los Angeles Dodgers. His opposite-field power and statuesque physique have made him a target of doubters. A Google search for “Yasiel Puig and PEDs” or “Yasiel Puig and steroids” turns up results message boards and comment sections questioning the authenticity of his production.

“It’s unfortunate but it’s definitely not the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard,” said Los Angeles Angels slugger Mark Trumbo. “I don’t think it’s unfair, though. There are still enough guys that appear to be breaking the rules, so it’s a real issue. Until there is some sort of collective sigh of relief and we all agree that (PEDs) are out of here, then it would be unfortunate. But until then it’s the way it’s going to be.”

Alex Rodriguez’s link to MLB’s Biogenesis investigation and Bartolo Colon suspension last year for PEDs—as well as having a link to Biogenesis—strengthen suspicions. Players suspended or linked to doping while in their primes (Ryan Braun) or in the midst of scorching stretches (Melky Cabrera last year, Manny Ramirez in 2009) reinforce belief that the game remains dirty.

Davis, one of the Texas Rangers’ top hitting prospects prior to the 2008 season, didn’t have his road to 64 home runs (his current pace) in his previous 864 plate appearances (through Tuesday) suddenly appear. He hit 33 home runs last season at age 26. In his first two major league seasons— at 22 and 23 years old—Davis hit 38 homers in 736 plate appearances. He was up and down between the minors and majors with the Rangers after that. He finally received consistent playing time after being traded to Baltimore.

While Davis always had power, the rest of his offensive game is peaking at age 27—when most hitters peak. Still, because he wasn’t a No. 1 pick or seen as an organization’s savior while in the minors, his production isn’t trusted.

“You look at Chris from the time he’s come up and he’s a big boy, an athletic big boy,” said Josh Hamilton, a teammate of Davis in Texas for four seasons. “We get tested, everybody does. (The suspicion) is a little (unfair) just because there’s a select few that have set us up for this. So that’s unfair, but it’s a part of the game we play in now.”

Such doubt is understandable. MLB’s failure to act sooner when PEDs were outed as a prevalent problem in the sport, along with continuing positive tests for stars and unknowns alike, has given the game’s clean personnel and its fans ammunition to question what’s real and what isn’t.

Davis and Puig are suspects until they retire clean. If Yankees legend Derek Jeter had returned too soon or too good from his ankle injury, the cries would have been loud. If Raul Ibanez, owner of 19 home runs through 61 games for Seattle and a birth certificate that makes him 41 years old, continues this pace all season, he will be a prime doping suspect.

This distrust is part of the game, for better or worse, fair or unfair. The people who wear the uniforms know its players—past and current—made it this way.

“It’s a shame,” said St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, who played in the Steroid Era with an admitted user in Mark McGwire. “Now for a guy that works hard to get where he is, there is always going to be a cloud over him. Twenty years ago it wasn’t a question, but these are the ramifications of things that have happened in our game.”

HEY, PUIG! GET OFF MY BALLOT!

Knowing San Francisco Giants and National League All-Star Game manager Bruce Bochy has already all but nixed the idea of Puig playing in the Midsummer Classic, one veteran reporter spouted off in the Angels’ press box that Puig should have never even been mentioned in the same breath as the All-Star Game. He hadn’t paid his dues, the old scribe cried.

Two points: First, the game counts for something important. While it’s dumb that it does, that fact isn’t changing in the next 10 days. So the best players should be there, regardless of service time. Puig could play as many as 39 games before the break. After all, Joe DiMaggio played in 57 games before making his first All-Star team in 1936.

Second and the more important point is that this is a showcase. Fans want to see stars and Puig is among the game’s brightest and should at least be considered.

Baseball is so steeped in young players “paying dues” it sometimes misses out on enjoying them. I told that to the elder reporter, and someone should tell that to Jonathan Papelbon—not that his team is in danger of “losing” the home-field advantage in the World Series.

“A” FOR EFFORT

While players are still able to skirt the MLB suspension laws for fighting or inciting a ruckus, the league is getting it right in handing down stiff suspensions to Arizona’s Ian Kennedy (10 games for throwing at Zack Greinke’s head) and Detroit’s Rick Porcello (six games for throwing a little too high at Ben Zobrist).

The appeal process allows players to schedule their vacations to their best interests, but baseball is starting to send the message that headhunting and inciting brawls will be met with less tolerance. We don’t applaud MLB for much, but for this it deserves a slow clap.